The claim circulated online the day after deadly floods caused by a tropical depression struck Thailand’s northern provinces of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.<\/p>\n
Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi<\/a> claimed at least 700 lives in the region as it swept across Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar in September 2024 (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The same image was shared alongside similar claims here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, one X user shared the image\u00a0here<\/a>, saying that the woman and her cats did not survive but the scenes were not from Thailand.<\/p>\n In fact, the photo shows a dentist from the East Malaysian state of Sabah evacuating during floods in July. She told AFP she and her cats are safe.<\/p>\n A reverse image search followed by keyword searches on Google found the same picture on Facebook<\/a> from a July 1, 2024 post<\/a> expressing condolences for people affected by flooding in Penampang\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The photo was captioned “Phoebe saving the cats”.<\/p>\n Penampang — a district in East Malaysia’s Sabah state — was severely hit by flash floods after heavy downpours on June 30, 2024. At least one person was found dead<\/a> while a total of 296 people from 97 families were displaced<\/a> (archived links here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the false post (left), which appears to have been cropped, and the original Facebook post (right):<\/p>\nJuly 2024 Sabah floods<\/h3>\n